To Nom de Plume or Not?

[eugenestar]

What do you think of noms de plume (pen names)? Especially with the genre of writing in which we're partaking.

Such issues as Facebook profiles, online articles and day time professions may cause reason to have a nom de plume. I read somewhere that gender can make a difference and in general it's easier for a male to use their real name (can't remember why).

Due to Facebook I'd probably go with a nom de plume lest my family members, some of which would be prudes, make the connection and decide to read any book I publish.

 

[oggbashan]

We have recently had this discussion which is still on page 1 of the Authors' Hangout today.

Reading that thread, and many others that have been posted over the years, could answer your query.

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

What do you think of noms de plume (pen names)? Especially with the genre of writing in which we're partaking.

Such issues as Facebook profiles, online articles and day time professions may cause reason to have a nom de plume. I read somewhere that gender can make a difference and in general it's easier for a male to use their real name (can't remember why).

Due to Facebook I'd probably go with a nom de plume lest my family members, some of which would be prudes, make the connection and decide to read any book I publish.

All my friends and family know that I writer dirty stories, er, I mean, of course, erotic literature.

Even my E-books were published under my real name. I'm proud of everything I've written under my names here, AndTheEnd, Bostonfictionwriter, CarBuffStuff, PositiveThinker, SuperHeroRalph, and WmForrester.

Having written nearly 1,000 stories, all posted here, and more than 6 million words that have amassed more than 50 million hits, I want credit for all that I've written.

The thing that pisses me off is all the stories I've had stolen. Alas, unless I copyrighted every story, there's nothing that I can do.

To me, what I write are just stories. I don't sit writing stories with one hand and mastubating with the other. My thing is writing real stories with well developed characters. To me, no matter which category I write a story in, and I've written in every category, it's just a story.

Writing without dancing to the beat of a publisher telling me what to write and when to write it is the best writing time of my life.

 

[lovecraft68]

What do you think of noms de plume (pen names)? Especially with the genre of writing in which we're partaking.

Such issues as Facebook profiles, online articles and day time professions may cause reason to have a nom de plume. I read somewhere that gender can make a difference and in general it's easier for a male to use their real name (can't remember why).

Due to Facebook I'd probably go with a nom de plume lest my family members, some of which would be prudes, make the connection and decide to read any book I publish.

I personally chose to use a pen name for the reason of saving any potential embarrassment for people around me. I have very religious in laws, two college age daughters and a wife who works in the medical profession and is a public speaker. People who know me personally know what I write and I am not ashamed of it. But it's the average person that i would not want holding it over others close to me. This is mainly because I write incest stories. If I wrote mainstream porn I probably would not care as much.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Now that my kids are adult I've relaxed a bit about keeping my internet pseudonyms seperate from my real life but more people know me by Stella than my 'real' name.

 

[Darkniciad]

Keeping your erotica separate from the real you is probably the best policy.

There's nothing stopping you from pointing people you trust IRL to your pen name. If you decide to connect your erotica to your real identity, there's no putting the cat back in the bag.

That really applies to anything sexually oriented. I used to be an admin on a nudie chat site, and even though we knew each other's real names, we referred to each other by our chat handles most of the time, even in person. Easier to avoid slipping up with real names on public chat that way.

You never know what the future holds. It's best to take precautions -- especially on the internet.

 

[Kurokami]

Keeping your erotica separate from the real you is probably the best policy.

There's nothing stopping you from pointing people you trust IRL to your pen name. If you decide to connect your erotica to your real identity, there's no putting the cat back in the bag.

That really applies to anything sexually oriented. I used to be an admin on a nudie chat site, and even though we knew each other's real names, we referred to each other by our chat handles most of the time, even in person. Easier to avoid slipping up with real names on public chat that way.

You never know what the future holds. It's best to take precautions -- especially on the internet.

Exactly! There are certain people out there- my future in-laws, for example- who I really don't want knowing about my writing. The extent to which I might reveal my RL identity is my first name, maybe, but that'd be it. I just don't need the hassle from relatives and such.

However, I will say that my pen-name is partially based on my middle name.

 

[eugenestar]

Thanks everyone. I think Darkniciad's advice on caution falls well with me. I've got my handle on here obviously but I also have a nom de plume for my book writing. Funny thing is I made this nom de plume and found someone has the actual name on Facebook.

Well I guess there are 100's of Stephen Kings out there too :-D